None.
The present invention generally relates to a method and composition for enhancing milk production. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and composition for enhancing milk production by ruminants.
Milk producers are continually looking for new compositions and methods that permit a selective increase in the amount of milk produced by ruminants. A number of advances have been made over the years in incrementally increasing milk production by ruminants. For example, various changes in the ingredient composition of ruminant feed have been made in attempts to coax ruminants into increasing the amount of feed intake, increasing the amount of water intake, and/or adding particular feed components that are thought to aid in increasing the amount of milk produced by ruminants.
Additionally, some efforts have focused upon modifying the feed to cause digestion of particular feed components in particular stomach components of the ruminant. For example, techniques exist for making certain feed components or feed additives, such as certain proteins and amino acids, rumen-inert to prevent these components from being digested in the rumen and to consequently permit digestion of these select components in stomach components other than the rumen, such as in the abomasum. Complicating matters further, care must be taken to assure that the particular feeding change does not cause health problems in the ruminant, such as ruminal keratosis, abomasal displacement, or laminitis.
Though the various ruminant feeding techniques that have been proposed and/or practiced over the years have enhanced the overall knowledge base with respect to ruminant feeding, these techniques have not adequately addressed the problem of how to most economically, efficiently, and effectively increase the amount of milk produced by ruminants. Therefore, a need still exists for an improved method and composition for feeding ruminants that enhances the amount of milk produced by the ruminants.
The present invention includes a method of enhancing milk production by a ruminant. The method includes providing a feed that contains sorbitol and at least one additional feed component, and orally feeding the feed to the ruminant, the ruminant ingesting about 100 grams, or less, of sorbitol per day. The present invention further includes a feed material and a method of feeding a ruminant.